Photos are being posted of the famous sites in Rome covered with snow during the most significant snowfall since 1986:







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Meanwhile back in Ottawa where the Bal de Neige/Winterlude is on, I took my first skate of the winter on a perfect day (except that it got very mild and the ice was like slush by the time I had done the whole 7.8 km and back).  I met members of the Legionnaires of Christ school/novitiate in Cornwall, who were celebrating the foundation day of their institute with a day off to travel to Ottawa....




SKATING ON THE RIDEAU CANAL








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Journée de la Vie Consacrée


On Saturday at Notre Dame de Lourdes Church in Vanier, we celebrated at the Eucharist consecrated life in its various forms and dimensions (religious orders, congregations, societies of apostolic life, consecrated virgins, etc).  Les Filles de la Sagesse / Daughters of Wisdom, whose residence is across the street from the church invited us for refreshments. 
Some photos taken of the Eucharist and at the reception:

MEMORIAL – ST. PAUL MIKI AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS

O God, strength of all the Saints, who through the Cross were pleased to call the Martyrs Saint Paul Miki and companions to life, grant, we pray, that by their intercession we may hold with courage even until death to the faith that we profess. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

* * *The Magnificat missalette features a monthly presentation on a work of art, this time the work of Tanzio da Varallo's The Martyrs of Nagasaki (above).  To read this wonderful commentary, see:  http://www.magnificat.com/english/flip_com_oeuvre/index.asp
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CATHOLIC STUDENT WEEK
ON UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES



Last Wednesday at the Carleton University Catholic Chaplaincy (under the direction of Father Tim Mccauley), Father Joseph Muldoon and I began the visitation of St. Margaret Mary Parish (Old Ottawa South) with Mass at midday on the campus.  Some thirty students and staff were present.

After Mass, we invaded the chaplain's office (rather crowded quarters for those attending) to take part in light refreshments.  The students presented us with the Catholic Student Prayer for this week on campuses across the country (we prayed it at the close of the Sunday anticipated Mass on Saturday at 5 o'clock at St. Margaret Mary, where most of the minstries (music, lectors, servers) were conducted by Carleton students.

The photos follow; here is the prayer for this week:

Lord, we ask that you enter our hearts and minds to be our guiding light throughout Catholic Students' Week.  Give us the strength and wisdom to reach out to others, to fulfill our vocations as students, followers of Christ and witnesses to the gospel.  Be with us to guide our thoughts, actions and words and let your Spirit be present in us as we unite all people as one body in Christ. Amen.

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Keep your family safe, O Lord, with unfailing care, that, relying solely on the hope of heavenly grace, they may be defended always by your protection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.



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WINTERLUDE


Beautiful weather, lots of folks around town to take in Winterlude, busy weekend, light blogging....Blessed Lord's Day!

LOYOLA HIGH SCHOOL, MONTREAL, is my alma mater (1957-61) and I delighted in teaching there (Latin, Greek and religion) from 1967-69. 
Each year the President (currently Father Michael Murray) holds a reception in the late spring to thank benefactors, friends and alumni for their support and to maintain ties. 
This year, the reception was advanced to late January and given a special link to the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Jesuits in Canada, which is being observed at different times across the country between May 22, 2011 and May 12, 2012.
Along with the reception, a Mass was scheduled for the morning with the staff and student body; Father Murray invited me to preside at the concelebrated Eucharist and to preach on the occasion.  It was a wonderful Mass of Thanksgiving and afterwards I was able to meet two of my grand-nephews Sean and Patrick who currently attend the school.
Some photos from the Mass and afterwards:









Clergy and the Maroon & White honour society


Some of the Jesuits and my MC Father Jonathan Blake


Provincial Father James Webb (left) and President Father Michael Murray




Photo credit: Jim Newman (Loyola HS, Montreal)

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This evening, our local private Catholic school, Maryvale Academy, will hold its annual dinner and fundraising Gala (silent auction, etc).  I always find this a delightful evening.  Here's the poster prepared for the occasion:

Today, in many places, Catholics will have their throats blessed (with crossed candles procured at yesterday's Candlemas observance) through the intercession of St. Blaise. 
His is one of two optional memorials permitted today (the First Friday of the month when the Mass of the Sacred Heart may be celebrated when there is hope of spiritual benefit or where a devotion has developed); the other is of the missionary evangelist of Northern Europe, St. Ansgar.

 OPTIONAL MEMORIAL – ST. BLAISE
We know more about the devotion to St. Blaise by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. His feast is observed as a holy day in some Eastern Churches. The Council of Oxford, in 1222, prohibited servile labor in England on Blaise’s feast day. The Germans and Slavs hold him in special honor and for decades many United States Catholics have sought the annual St. Blaise blessing for their throats.
 
We know that Bishop Blaise was martyred in his episcopal city of Sebastea, Armenia, in 316. The legendary Acts of St. Blaise were written 400 years later. According to them Blaise was a good bishop, working hard to encourage the spiritual and physical health of his people.

Although the Edict of Toleration (311), granting freedom of worship in the Roman Empire, was already five years old, persecution still raged in Armenia. Blaise was apparently forced to flee to the back country. There he lived as a hermit in solitude and prayer, but he made friends with the wild animals. One day a group of hunters seeking wild animals for the amphitheater stumbled upon Blaise’s cave. They were first surprised and then frightened. The bishop was kneeling in prayer surrounded by patiently waiting wolves, lions and bears.

As the hunters hauled Blaise off to prison, the legend has it, a mother came with her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat. At Blaise’s command the child was able to cough up the bone.

Agricolaus, governor of Cappadocia, tried to persuade Blaise to sacrifice to pagan idols. The first time Blaise refused, he was beaten. The next time he was suspended from a tree and his flesh torn with iron combs or rakes. (English wool combers, who used similar iron combs, took Blaise as their patron. They could easily appreciate the agony the saint underwent.) Finally, he was beheaded. (www.AmericanCatholic/saintoftheday)

Hear, O Lord, the supplications your people make under the patronage of the Martyr Saint Blaise, and grant that they may rejoice in peace in this present life, and find help for life eternal. Through our Lord.

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OPTIONAL MEMORIAL – ST. ANSGAR
The “apostle of the north” (Scandinavia) had enough frustrations to become a saint—and he did. He became a Benedictine at Corbie, France, where he had been educated. Three years later, when the king of Denmark became a convert, Ansgar went to that country for three years of missionary work, without noticeable success.

Sweden asked for Christian missionaries, and he went there, suffering capture by pirates and other hardships on the way. Fewer than two years later, he was recalled, to become abbot of New Corbie (Corvey) and bishop of Hamburg. The pope made him legate for the Scandinavian missions.

Funds for the northern apostolate stopped with Emperor Louis’s death. After 13 years’ work in Hamburg, Ansgar saw it burned to the ground by invading Northmen; Sweden and Denmark returned to paganism.

He directed new apostolic activities in the North, traveling to Denmark and being instrumental in the conversion of another king. By the strange device of casting lots, the king of Sweden allowed the Christian missionaries to return.

Ansgar’s biographers remark that he was an extraordinary preacher, a humble and ascetical priest. He was devoted to the poor and the sick, imitating the Lord in washing their feet and waiting on them at table. He died peacefully at Bremen, Germany, without achieving his wish to be a martyr.

Sweden became pagan again after his death, and remained so until the coming of missionaries two centuries later. (www.AmericanCatholic/saintoftheday)


O God, who willed to send the Bishop Saint Ansgar to enlighten many peoples, grant us, through his intercession, that we may always walk in the light of your truth. Through our Lord.

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The Neo-Catechumenal Way


Recently, Father Joseph Muldoon, E.V. and I welcomed a team of itinerant evangelists of the Neo-Catechumenal Way who have come to invite people to a deeper relationship with Our Lord in the Church, a relationship that has changed their lives.  Welcome, bienvenue, benvenidos!
They will share their journey with members of the parish of Sainte Famille/Sagrada Familia in the next couple of months.

Félicitations aux nouveaux évêques!

Today, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of the Most Reverend Vital Massé as Bishop of Mont-Laurier and appointed the Most Reverend Paul Lortie (above), currently Auxiliary Bishop of Quebec City, as sixth Bishop of Mont-Laurier.
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Furthermore, the Holy Father accepted the resignation of the Most Reverend Martin Veillette as Bishop of Trois-Rivières and appointed the Most Reverend Luc Bouchard (above), currently Bishop of Saint-Paul, as ninth Bishop of Trois-Rivières.
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At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany (January 6), the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later—February 15.
(Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually “unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her “purification.” Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from Jewish worship.)
This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification.
The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas.

At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas.

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THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD



Almighty ever-living God, we humbly implore your majesty that, just as your Only Begotten Son was presented on this day in the Temple in the substance of our flesh, so, by your grace, we may be presented to you with minds made pure. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Collège universitaire dominicain




Samedi au collège des dominicains d’Ottawa on a célébré la St-Thomas d’Aquin avec la clôture d’un colloque marquant le centenaire de la Province canadienne dominicaine, la messe de la fête, un apéritif et un diner festif.
Quelques photos :

SAINT BRIGID OF IRELAND
O God, who inspired in Saint Brigid such whole-hearted dedication to your work that she is known as Mary of the Gael, bless, we pray, through her intercession, our country so that we may follow the example of her life and be united with her and the Virgin Mary in your presence.  Through our Lord.


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“I should like a great lake of ale, for the King of the Kings. I should like the family of Heaven to be drinking it through time eternal”–Saint Brigid of Kildare

After Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid (457-525) is probably the best known saint in Ireland and today is her feast day. Often referred to as “the Mary of the Gael,” she founded the monastery of Kildare and numerous stories abound about her spirituality, hospitality, compassion, charity and ability to inspire a robust community life.

In one she worked in a leper colony, which found itself without beer. Centuries ago beer was the daily drink of the people, both because water near villages and towns was often polluted and because it was cheap nourishment.

So “when the lepers she nursed implored her for beer, and there was none to be had, she changed the water, which was used for the bath, into an excellent beer, by the sheer strength of her blessing and dealt it out to the thirsty in plenty.”

In the manner of the miracle of the Wedding Feast at Cana, Brigid is also said to have changed dirty bathwater into beer so that visiting clerics would have something to drink. She is reputed to have supplied beer out of one barrel to eighteen churches, which sufficed from Holy Thursday to the end of Easter.





St. Brigid and her cross are linked together by a story about her weaving this form of cross out of rushes at the death bed of either her father or a pagan lord.

Brigid was sent for to counsel this raving man, but his delirium made a conversation about conversion difficult.

Sitting calmly next to his bed, she leaned over to pick up some rushes, which were strewn about the floor of the room for warmth and cleanliness, and wove them together in the form of a cross.

This aroused the man’s curiosity. Her explanation of what the cross meant prompted his request to be baptized just prior to his death.

Hanging Saint Brigid’s cross on the door of one’s home is said to bring blessings on the household.



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FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME




Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year "B") - February 5, 2012
A DAY IN THE GALILEAN MINISTRY OF JESUS[Job 7.1-4,6-7 [Psalm 147]; 1 Corinthians 9.16-19, 22-23; Mark 1.29-39]
Well on into his narrative, Mark recounted crowd reactions to Jesus' presence: “Wherever he went—into villages or cities or farms—they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged that they might touch even the fringe of His cloak; and all who touched it were healed” (Mark 6.56). The perceptive reader will note that, in this summary statement, the evangelist has generalized the story of the woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years (5.25-34).

In desperation at having spent all her money on doctors and having only gotten worse, she had said to herself “if I but touch his clothes, I will be made well”. And it was so. The woman was instantly cured on touching the hem of Jesus' garment. In dialogue with her, Jesus drew forth a description of the act of faith behind her action, declaring “your faith has made you well”.

So, when Mark spoke of crowds begging to touch Jesus' cloak, he wanted his readers—and today's hearers of the story—to understand that faith undergirded the gesture by which the afflicted were reaching out to touch Jesus' garment. And we are to understand that they—like the woman—were made well by faith.

This example of how Mark generalizes aspects of the ministry of Jesus and helps disciples grasp the deeper significance of what happened in the healing ministry is an important principle for understanding how the evangelist interpreted features of the Jesus story when handing on the oral and early written traditions he had inherited. Such a dynamic may be at work in Mark's account of a typical day in the Galilean ministry of Jesus (1.21-39).

Last Sunday's gospel report of Jesus' exorcism of a man possessed by an unclean spirit at the Capernaum synagogue is followed, in this Sunday's gospel, by the cure of Simon Peter's mother-in-law. Both these healing acts are complemented by a summary statement which generalizes both the exorcism and the cure: “The whole city was gathered around the door. And He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons....”

However, Mark also profited from the occasion of his summary statement about multiple exorcisms to add an interpretive comment, “and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him”.

This brings us back to the exorcism itself, in which Jesus had rebuked the unclean spirit, saying “Be silent, and come out of him!” Moments earlier, in an attempt to control Jesus by uttering His name, the demon had said, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God”

Mark took Jesus' command to silence—a traditional aspect of exorcism rituals—and gave it his own significance (“because they knew him”). Thus, did Mark introduce a key motif of his gospel—the veiling of Jesus' identity. This theme, designated by some scholars as ‘the Markan messianic secret’, will be explored more fully next week with the account of Jesus cleansing a leper (1.40-45).

As we shall come to see, in Mark's gospel perspective the demons know who Jesus is and his enemies quickly grasp who he claims to be, while the crowds wonder about him and the disciples seem to be utterly lacking in understanding of the truths he strove to communicate.

The first manifestation of this sorry inner state of the disciples appears when Simon and his companions “hunted for” Jesus in the wilderness, where he had gone to pray early in the morning “while it was still dark”. Their outlook must be deduced from their statement about the crowds who had gathered at the door of Simon Peter's house the night before (“everyone is searching for you”). They imply there are reasons—perhaps not selflessly-motivated ones—for him to go back with them to the crowds.

After prayer, Jesus revealed that he had other priorities and, in a typically hopeful outlook, included them in his company and plans (“Let us go to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also”). Marvellously, the disciples, though uncomprehending, are called to join Jesus in heralding the message of the Kingdom and casting out demons.


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THE POPE'S PRAYER INTENTIONS

The Holy Father's prayer intentions for this month are the following:
GENERAL INTENTION •Access to Water. That all peoples may have access to water and other resources needed for daily life.
MISSIONARY INTENTION •Health Workers. That the Lord may sustain the efforts of health workers assisting the sick and elderly in the world’s poorest regions

MEMORIAL – ST. JOHN BOSCO, PRIEST
O God, who raised up the Priest Saint John Bosco as a father and teacher of the young, grant, we pray, that, aflame with the same fire of love, we may seek out souls and serve you alone. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.


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From American Catholic's Saint of the Day:
John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings removed from the likelihood of committing sin.
He advocated frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play.

Encouraged during his youth to become a priest so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841. His service to young people started when he met a poor orphan and instructed him in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. He then gathered young apprentices and taught them catechism.

After serving as chaplain in a hospice for working girls, John opened the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys, shoemaking and tailoring.

By 1856, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets. His interest in vocational education and publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic publishers.

John’s preaching fame spread and by 1850 he had trained his own helpers because of difficulties in retaining young priests. In 1854 he and his followers informally banded together, inspired by St. Francis de Sales [cf. January 24].

With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded the Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission work. Later, he organized a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.

John Bosco [1815-1888] educated the whole person—body and soul united. He believed that Christ’s love and our faith in that love should pervade everything we do—work, study, play. For John Bosco, being a Christian was a full-time effort, not a once-a-week, Mass-on-Sunday experience. It is searching and finding God and Jesus in everything we do, letting their love lead us. Yet, because John realized the importance of job-training and the self-worth and pride that come with talent and ability, he trained his students in the trade crafts, too. * * * * * *
VISIT TO ST. IGNATIUS THE MARTYR PARISH & SCHOOLS:ST. MICHAEL'S & BLESSED JOHN PAUL II





Last week, welcomed by Pastor Father Michael Wright, with Father Joseph Muldoon, E.V. I visited St. Ignatius parish in Overbrook, Ottawa.  This included meeting with the members of the Catholic Women's League council, visiting St. Michael's and Blessed John Paul II schools and attending the Lord's Day Masses on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.  Following two receptions in the parish hall, we met with representatives of the parish finance and pastoral committee; the brothers of the Franciscans of Halifax regularly attend the Sunday Masses.
Some photos:
St. Michael's School











Blessed John Paul II School









Photos of the Parish Events

INTRODUCING FATHER GILLES MONGEAU, S.J.

Last Wednesday evening at St. Paul's University -- as part of the Feast Day celebrations -- I was invited to introduce Father Gilles Mongeau, S.J., who spoke on the Jesuit charism in the context of the 400th anniversary of the Society of Jesus' arrival in Canada. 

Fr. Gilles grew up in Ottawa and his parents live here in Kanata, (cf. photo below) so it was a bit of a homecoming,  It was an honour for me to present him to a home-town audience. 

The seminarians from Holy Spirit Ukrainian Seminary (whose church celebrated St. Gregory [Nazianzen] the Theologian that same day) were present and we posed for picture to mark the occasion.
The photos:





 




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SKATING OVAL AT CITY HALL


Yesterday was such a lovely sunny afternoon that, after getting back from the Visitation of St. Ignatius Martyr Parish (more on that later in the week), I walked around the ice sculptures and other displays for the NHL All Star Game and saw the recently-opened skating oval outside the Ottawa City Hall.  Given the cancellation of skating on the Canal because of the mild weather, there were lots of people enjoying getting some exercise in the open air. 
A few photos of the rink, of the Canal and the hockey game decorations:

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Today's Gospel, "Jesus Teaches with Authority" (Mark 1.21-28)
Grant us, Lord our God, that we may honour you with all our mind, and love everyone in truth of heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Prendergast WITNESS Interview premieres this Sunday on the S+L network



Father Thomas Rosica, CSB informed me a short time ago that the WITNESS interview he conducted with me last October at the Bishops’ Plenary in Cornwall, Ontario will premiere on the Salt and Light Television Network this Sunday evening, January 29.
This is the description of it that the S + L website offers:
October 20, 2011 - In 2011, the English-speaking world welcomed the new translation of the Roman Missal. One of the key figures responsible for the translation was a Canadian Jesuit: Archbishop Terrence Prendergast. The Montreal native is presently the Archbishop of Ottawa, as well as Canada's representative on the Vox Clara committee of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship. He previously served as Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto and Archbishop of Halifax. Witness host Fr. Thomas Rosica spoke with the Archbishop at the 2011 plenary assembly of the Canadian bishops' conference.
You can get see it in an advance screening by clicking on the following:
http://saltandlighttv.org/witness/prendergast.php
L.D.S. & M. I.

In previous years, the NHL All Star Hockey Game could not be held in Ottawa due to the lack of convention facilities.  But the opening last year of the Ottawa Convention Centre has made this year's big game a possibility.  However, the inconsistent weather (not sufficiently cold for long enough) has wreacked havoc with hopes to skate on the Rideau Canal (which the locals have been grousing about too).Welcome, visitors!  Enjoy your stay!
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SPEAKING OF ALL-STARS,
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS IS TOPS


 MEMORIAL – ST. THOMAS AQUINAS,
PRIEST, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
O God, who made Saint Thomas Aquinas outstanding in his zeal for holiness and his study of sacred doctrine, grant us, we pray, that we may understand what he taught and imitate what he accomplished. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.


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100 Ans de la Province dominicaine canadienne

Les dominicains au Canada fêtent un Jubile en 2011-2012 ; j’ai pu assister a quelques sessions d’un colloque ces jours-ci.  Voici un message du provincial sur le site web des Frères Prêcheurs :



Les dominicains au Canada [1911-2011]

Le Jubilé de notre Province est bien lancé. En deux occasions, plusieurs d’entre nous se sont retrouvés à Saint-Hyacinthe. Tout d’abord pour cette belle journée du 1er octobre où, dans une remarquable conférence, le frère Jean-Jacques Robillard nous a permis de mieux saisir nos origines. Autour de l’évêque du diocèse, Mgr François Lapierre, dans le cadre d’une célébration eucharistique joyeuse, nous avons rendu grâces à Dieu pour tout ce qu’a réalisé notre Province. Avec nos invités, tout particulièrement le Prieur provincial de la Province de France qui a su nous égayer, nous avons poursuivi la fête autour d’un bon buffet. Plus tard, le 8 novembre, nous avons procédé à la bénédiction de notre nouveau cimetière et fait mémoire de tous les frères de notre Province qui nous ont précédés…

Merci à tous les frères qui se sont déplacés pour ces deux événements. Beau signe de vitalité et d’attachement à la communauté que nous formons.

Le prochain rendez-vous est fixé à Ottawa. Un colloque développera le thème de la présence dominicaine en milieux universitaires. Il se conclura par la célébration de la Saint-Thomas. Retenez les dates : les 26, 27 et 28 janvier 2012….




Les générations des dominicains canadiens: le frère Rick van Lier, 39 ans, le frère Benoît Lacroix, 96 ans


Le frère Hervé Tremblay parle du commentaire du frère Marie-Joseph Lagrange sur la Genèse
Notre Province est à un tournant. Je le vis moi-même bien directement et simplement. Je me suis rendu compte que je suis le seul dominicain à temps plein au Provincialat avec tout ce que cela implique bien concrètement dans l’exécution de certaines tâches. Il a suffi d’un chapitre provincial pour que les choses changent à ce point.

Ce que je vis, des prieurs le vivent, plusieurs frères le vivent. Cela exige une transformation des mentalités et surtout de comprendre que, même après cent ans, nous sommes encore à nos débuts. Non seulement parce que nous sommes moins nombreux, non seulement parce que nos ressources ont diminué, mais fondamentalement parce que notre monde a changé.

Et pourtant, dans la foi, nous sommes convaincus que ce monde difficile à comprendre est toujours aimé de Dieu. Il a encore besoin d’entendre la Bonne Nouvelle de la joie de Noël : vous est né, aujourd’hui, un Sauveur qui est Christ et Seigneur! Aujourd’hui, ici au Québec, au Canada, au Japon, au Rwanda et au Burundi.

En mai, nous nous retrouverons, dans le cadre des nos Assises, pour réfléchir sur le thème de la nouvelle évangélisation... Il s’agit de notre raison d’être, de notre avenir, de notre identité, car nous sommes prêcheurs, porteurs de la Bonne Nouvelle. Comment l’annoncer? Quel est ce monde dont nous sommes partie prenante? Quelle parole lui adresser? Comment notre parole peut-elle renvoyer à cette Parole, à ce Verbe, que Dieu a enfoui dans notre monde? Comment, à la manière de Dominique, poursuivre le dialogue avec l’hôtelier?

Au moment où nous célébrons notre jubilé, je vous souhaite cette joie, cette joie de Noël, que nous ne pouvons garder pour nous-mêmes, cette joie des débuts, aussi modestes soient-ils, cette joie pour laquelle nous sommes encore prêts à risquer notre avenir.

Fr. André Descôteaux, o.p., Prieur provincial

SAINT ANGELA MERICI, VIRGIN
May the Virgin Saint Angela never fail to commend us to your compassion, O Lord, we pray, that, following the lessons of her charity and prudence, we may hold fast to your teaching and express it in what we do. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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SAINTE ANGÈLE MÉRICI






Vierge, fondatrice de la Congrégation des Ursulines (1474-1540)


Sainte Angèle Mérici naquit à Desonzano, sur le lac de Garde. Ses parents, profondément chrétiens, désiraient que leurs enfants trouvent leur bonheur dans la gloire de Dieu. Pour réaliser cet idéal, ils avaient fait un vrai sanctuaire de la maison paternelle où chacun travaillait sous le regard de Dieu et récitait la prière en commun. Une lecture dans un livre de piété ou dans la Vie des Saints terminait la journée.
A ces pieuses pratiques, Angèle ajoutait les rigueurs de la pénitence. Elle voua sa virginité au Seigneur à l'âge de neuf ans et renonça le jour même à toute parure. Elle perdit son père vers l'âge de treize ans; sa mère mourut deux ans plus tard. Un oncle nommé Barthélémy la prit alors chez lui et s'attacha à favoriser ses pratiques de dévotion. Six ans s'écoulèrent avant que Dieu vienne lui ravir son unique soeur de sang et de sentiments; le décès de l'oncle Barthélémy suivit de près cette perte vivement ressentie.
Doublement orpheline, Angèle rentra à la maison paternelle, acheva de se dépouiller de tout ce qu'elle possédait et se livra aux plus grandes austérités. Elle était alors âgée de vingt-deux ans. Afin de se sanctifier plus sûrement, elle s'affilia au Tiers-Ordre de Saint-François d'Assise.
En 1506, un jour qu'elle travaillait aux champs, une lumière éclatante l'environna soudain. Angèle vit une échelle s'élever du sol jusqu'au ciel et une troupe innombrable de vierges qui en parcouraient les échelons, soutenues par des anges. Une des vierges se tourna vers elle et lui dit: «Angèle, sache que Dieu t'a ménagé cette vision pour te révéler qu'avant de mourir tu fonderas, à Brescia, une société de vierges semblable à celles-ci.» Dieu fournit à Sa servante les moyens de réaliser cet oracle, seulement vingt ans après la mémorable vision.
La réputation de sainteté d'Angèle Mérici s'était répandue jusque dans la ville de Brescia. Les Patengoli, riche famille et grands bienfaiteurs des oeuvres pies, habitaient cette cité. En 1516, ayant perdu coup sur coup leurs deux fils, ils invitèrent Angèle à venir habiter avec eux pour les consoler dans leur peine. A partir de ce moment, sainte Angèle se fixa à Brescia, édifiant la ville par ses vertus. Chaque jour, on la voyait en compagnie de jeunes filles de son âge, rassembler les fillettes et leur enseigner la doctrine chrétienne, visiter les pauvres et les malades, instruire les grandes personnes qui venaient, en foule, écouter leurs conférences. Ces pieuses filles s'ingéniaient à rechercher les pécheurs jusque dans leur lieu de travail.
Suivant une pratique très usitée à cette époque, sainte Angèle Mérici entreprit plusieurs pèlerinages. Comme elle se rendait un jour à Jérusalem avec un groupe de pèlerins, une mystérieuse cécité se déclara dans la ville de Candie, l'affligeant tout le reste du parcours, pour ne cesser qu'à son retour exactement au même endroit où elle avait perdu l'usage de la vue. Dans cette pénible circonstance, la Sainte vit comme un symbole du renoncement qui devait être à la base de tous ses projets. Le pape Clément VII, instruit des vertus et des miracles de sainte Angèle, lui réserva un accueil des plus bienveillants.
Le souvenir de la merveilleuse vision demeurait toujours au fond de son coeur. Un jour, Angèle réunit douze jeunes filles qui désiraient tendre à la vie parfaite. Elle leur proposa de mener une vie retirée dans leurs demeures et les rassemblaient fréquemment pour les former à la pratique des vertus chrétiennes. En 1533, ce noviciat achevé, sainte Angèle Mérici leur révéla son plan, leur démontrant que l'ignorance religieuse était la cause des ravages exercés par le protestantisme et que la fondation d'une société de religieuses d'une forme nouvelle pour l'époque, unissant la vie contemplative à l'instruction des enfants, constituerait un remède efficace à l'état déplorable qui régnait dans l'Église.
Afin de mieux atteindre toutes les âmes dans le besoin, la fondatrice implanta les bases d'un Ordre sans clôture. Ses soeurs parcouraient les prisons et les hôpitaux, recherchaient les pauvres pour les instruire et rompaient généreusement leur pain avec eux. Remontant le cours du mal jusqu'à sa source, sainte Angèle Mérici pensait qu'on ne pouvait réformer les moeurs que par la famille, laquelle dépendait surtout de la mère. Elle réalisait que la mauvaise éducation des jeunes filles provenait de la carence de mères chrétiennes. Dans les desseins de Dieu, la congrégation des Ursulines devait rayonner à travers le monde par l'éducation des jeunes filles.
Le 25 novembre 1535, à Brescia, les premières religieuses du nouvel institut prononcèrent les trois voeux traditionnels de pauvreté, chasteté et obéissance, ajoutant celui de se consacrer exclusivement à l'enseignement. Sainte Angèle Mérici plaça sa congrégation sous le patronage de sainte Ursule.
Dieu l'avait gratifiée des dons éminents de science infuse et de prophétie. Elle parlait latin sans l'avoir étudié, expliquait les passages les plus difficiles des Livres Saints et traitait les questions théologiques avec une si admirable fermeté et précision, que les plus doctes personnages recouraient volontiers à ses lumières. Ses dernières années furent marquées par de fréquentes extases.
Sainte Angèle Mérici mourut le 28 janvier 1540. Pendant trois nuits, toute la ville de Brescia contempla une lumière extraordinaire au-dessus de la chapelle où reposait le corps de la Sainte qui s'est conservé intact de toute corruption. Le pape Pie VII l'a canonisée en 1807. Tiré de J.-M. Planchet, édition 1946, p. 217-218 -- Marteau de Langle de Cary, 1959, tome II, p. 295-296

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A THANK YOU EVENING MEAL & CELEBRATIONWITH ST. THERESA PARISH'S VOLUNTEERS


 
Recently, late on a Sunday afternoon, I joined close to a hundred members of St. Theresa's Parish and their pastor, Father Vincent Pereira, for an evening of dining and entertainment in thanksgiving for generous service to the parish community.
It was a delightful occasion; some photos:

Rembrandt van Rijn, St. Timothy as a child and his grandmother Lois
(cf. 2 Timothy 1.5), c. 1648
MEMORIAL – ST. TIMOTHY AND ST. TITUS, BISHOPS
O God, who adorned Saints Timothy and Titus with apostolic virtues, grant, through the intercession of them both, that, living justly and devoutly in this present age, we may merit to reach our heavenly homeland. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

* * *   Saints Timothy and Titus were two of the most beloved and trusted disciples of St. Paul, whom they accompanied in many of his journeys.
St. Timothy has been regarded by some as the "angel of the church of Ephesus", Rev 2:1-17. According to the ancient Roman martyrology he died Bishop of Ephesus.

The Bollandists (Jan. 24) give two lives of St. Timothy, one ascribed to Polycrates (an early Bishop of Ephesus, and a contemporary of St. Irenæus) and the other by Metaphrastes, which is merely an expansion of the former. The first states that during the Neronian persecution St. John arrived at Ephesus, where he lived with St. Timothy until he was exiled to Patmos under Domitian. Timothy, who was unmarried, continued Bishop of Ephesus until, when he was over eighty years of age, he was mortally beaten by the pagans.

According to early tradition Titus continued after St. Paul's death as Archbishop of Crete, and died there when he was over ninety. (Principal source - Catholic Encyclopedia - 1913 edition)


St. Paul and St. Titus
* * * * * *
MORE ON NEW YEAR GREETINGS, MASSOn Monday, a few photos were posted on the parish celebration at Sheng Shen (Holy Spirit) Chinese Catholic Parish. Here are some additional photos of the exchange of greetings by the Vietnamese Parish representatives (they brought gifts of spring rolls, Oriental fruits and Canadian ice wine) and of my visit to the Chinese community and celebration of Mass with them. 
The Vietnamese choir came from Our Lady of LaVang Parish to sing at the Mass at Sheng Shen Parish; two Vietnamese priests also concelebrated the liturgy.
A few photos : 
 



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Meeting with Deacon Peter Fan and the Parish Executive on arrival

Meeting with Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults Team and Catechumens







The catechumens are sent forth after the homily






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Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year “B”) - January 29, 2012




JESUS’ TEACHING “WITH AUTHORITY” PROVOKES WONDER[Deuteronomy 18.15-20 [Psalm 95]; 1 Corinthians 7.32-35; Mark 1.21-28]

Last Sunday's second reading ended with Paul observing, “The present form of this world is passing away”. This weekend, a similar note is struck when Paul speaks of the value of celibacy—singleness, being unmarried—so that men and women may be “concerned about the affairs of the Lord”.

Paul says this not because, as is sometimes asserted, he has a negative view of sex. His outlook is quite realistic and positive regarding human sexuality. He recognizes it as a divine blessing meant to issue in intimacy within marriage.

Beginning his mini-treatise on marriage, divorce and celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom (1 Corinthians 7.1-40), Paul told the Corinthians, who thought everyone should be celibate, that, instead, “each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband” (7.2-3).

Later, treating the issue of the single state, Paul praised it for allowing one to serve the Lord without distraction (“the unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord”).

By contrast, Paul said, marriage presents complications, producing divided interests. The married Christian must rightly consider how to please his or her spouse rather than concentrating on pleasing God alone (`for the married woman is concerned about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband').

In contrast with our culture, which claims the unmarried state is unhealthy and that wholeness for humans is possible only through sexual relationships, Paul reminds believers that the single state has dignity and value before God.

Through the ages, the Church has affirmed the truth of what Paul says through admiration for religious life, for the celibacy of priests in the Latin Rite and for disciples who, being single for a variety of motives, thereby offer “unhindered devotion to the Lord”.

There is only one reference in the New Testament to Jesus' celibate state, though it is everywhere presupposed. A single saying of Jesus on this theme has been preserved: “Some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19.12; New International Version).

Those who “make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom” (New Revised Standard Version) remain celibate to devote themselves fully to Christian ministry or witness. Marriage and the family are highly esteemed by disciples of Jesus. Still, exceptional people of the early community remained unmarried as a mark of their singular calling.

Jesus' single-minded devotion to heralding the Kingdom is evident from the outset. Mark's initial description of Jesus' ministry is that it presents “a new teaching—with authority!” The power in his teaching is evident when linked with an exorcism (“he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him”).

Mark stressed the impact of Jesus' teaching without telling us what feature of it displayed that authority. His focus was on the authority as such and on the people's reaction (“they were astounded”). Or, as one translator suggests, ‘they were being knocked out with astonishment’ (R. Gundry).

Mark wanted to emphasize the overwhelming power of Jesus' teaching authority. As long as Jesus taught, astonishment overwhelmed the residents of Capernaum. Mark thought it unimportant to inform his readers what Jesus said in his teaching. Instead, Mark showed that the power of Jesus' teaching authority became manifest in his casting “an unclean spirit” out of a man who came into the synagogue of Capernaum.

As Mark's gospel progresses, readers will observe Jesus working three other exorcisms (Mark 5.1-20; 7.24-30; 9.14-29). Yet Mark multiplies the impression of the extent of Jesus' exorcising activity through summary statements that generalize this feature of His ministry (cf. 1.34, 39; 3.11-12; 15, 22-23; 6.13; 9.38).

Mark identifies an exorcism as the first of Jesus' mighty acts and links the exorcism to the authoritative teaching of Jesus. The two activities coordinate and support each other, evoking astonishment and causing the fame of Jesus to spread through the surrounding Galilean countryside.

The people of Capernaum's question (“What is this?”) will soon become a question dominating the first half of Mark's gospel, “Who is this?” (4.41). ultimately, it will become the question Jesus poses to each person, “Who do you say that I am?” (8.29). [Living God's Word: Reflections on the Sunday Readings for Year B; Toronto/Montreal: Novalis, 2011, pp. 49-51]

Giovanni Bellini, Conversion of/de St. Paul (1472)

FEAST – THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE
O God, who taught the whole world through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Paul, draw us, we pray, nearer to you through the example of him whose conversion we celebrate today, and so make us witnesses to your truth in the world. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.



* * * * * *


AN OTTAWA OBSERVANCE
IN THE WEEK OF PRAYER
FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY



On Sunday evening, a goodly throng of English-speaking and francophone Christians gathered at the Dormition of the Virgin Greek Orthodox Church for prayer and reflection on Christ's call to be one (John 17.21). 
Afterwards there was a wonderful catered reception in the Hellenic Centre next door where fellowship was extended. 
Some photos:












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JESUITS IN ENGLISH CANADA PROVINCE
LOSES THREE MEMBERS IN 24 HOURS






In a 24-hour period last Saturday, three members associated with the Jesuits in English Canada Province passed away.  On the morning of January 21, Father William Addley, 68, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Toronto (mentioned on this blog on Sunday), later that day in the Jesuit Infirmary in Pickering, Father Ernest Tyler, 94, engaged for many years in secondary education and then pastoral ministry, and then in the early hours of January 22 in Calcutta, Father Lawrence Abello, 80, scientist and pro-life advocate.
Below a few remarks on Fathers Tyler and Father Abello, who are commended to your prayers:
FATHER ERNEST TYLER, S.J.


April 28, 1917 - January 21, 2012
This morning at 10:30, a funeral Mass will be celebrated in St. Ignatius Chapel of Manresa Spiritual Renewal Centre, Pickering, for Father Ernest C. Tyler who passed away at Rene Goupil House, Pickering on January 21, 2012, in the 94th year of his life and in the 73rd year of his religious life.
Born in Montreal, Quebec, on the April 28, 1917, he attended both Loyola High School and College and obtained a B.A. before entering the Society of Jesus on October 2, 1939 at Guelph, Ontario. He was ordained in Toronto on June 24, 1951.
After completing his studies for the priesthood, Father Tyler did a year of spirituality (Jesuit tertianship) at Xavier Hall in Pass Christian, Mississippi, USA then studied for a degree in education at the University of Toronto. In his ministry, he taught French and religion and served as an educational administrator (academic and discipline) at St. Mary’s University High School, Halifax; Loyola College High School, Montreal; St. Paul’s High School, Winnipeg; and Brebeuf College School, Toronto.
In 1969, Father began a new career in parish ministry at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto, where he helped many people over the next fourteen years; in 1983, he moved to Waubaushene, Ontario to be pastor of St. John the Evangelist parish until 1987 when he moved to Blessed Sacrament Parish as assistant and was Chaplain at Sunnybrook Medical Centre. In 1997 to 2004, he was parish administrator for St. Eugene’s Chapel, a mission church of Blessed Sacrament Parish.
Father "Ernie", as he was called by his fellow Jesuits, loved to play golf and was always interested in the comings-and-goings of his fellow Jesuits; he retired to the Jesuit Infirmary in 2005 where he stayed until his death.

* * * * * *

FATHER LAWRENCE ABELLO, S.J.

 June 12, 1931 - January 22, 2012 
Father Lawrence Abello SJ, renowned professor, inventor and a devout companion of Mother Teresa passed away on January 22, 2012 at St Xavier's College, Calcutta (Kolkata), his home for twenty-five years. He is survived by his sister Ms Giacinta Auser and his brothers Father Louis and Tony Abello.
Born in Leuven, Saskatchewan, Lawrence Abello joined the Jesuits in 1956; he volunteered for the Darjeeling Mission and went to India in 1959, at the end of his novitiate and juniorate. His formation in India followed the usual route from philosophy in Pune to a teaching internship in Gayaganga, and theology in St Mary’s Kurseong, where he was ordained on March 19, 1966. After a period of spiritual renewal (tertianship in 1972-73) at Vinayalaya, Mumbai, he made final vows in Shembaganur on February 2nd, 1974.
In the meantime, he began what might be called his first career, as philosophy professor in several seminaries in India, during the 1960’s and1970’s, mainly in St Pius College, Mumbai.
Philosophy wasn’t his only interest in those days however; he was always drawn to the world of physics and finally entered that world at St. Louis University and completed an M.Sc. degree in that subject in 1971. On his return to India, he continued his philosophy lectures at St Pius till 1977, then returned to the USA for his PhD in physics at Wayne State University, Detroit; he held two patents for inventions. Before returning to India in 1986 on a visa which allowed him to teach in St Xavier’s, Kolkata, he was active in pro-life ministry, which he continued in India.
Father “Larry” was a devoted companion of Mother Teresa and her sisters, as confessor and guide. He was also the director of the many volunteers who came each year to work with the Missionaries of Charity, to initiate them into life in Kolkata, and especially into life among the poor of that city.
He was soon drawn to the work of Mother Teresa, and for the rest of his life his ministry revolved around it, and the parishes of the city where he became quite familiar. He obtained his Indian citizenship in 1991, through the intercession of Mother Teresa, with whom, we pray, he shares the life of those “who love the poor”.

The Patron Saint of Catholic Communications, St. Francis de Sales produced and printed pamphlets explaining the faith and left them as flyers at households to win them back with love to the practice of the Catholic faith when many were scandalized by the corruption and failure of the church's leaders and were being attracted by Protestant tendencies. His winning ways won back many. 

Today he would no doubt make use  of social media to keep in touch with his flock and draw others to Our Lord in new evangelizing methods.  Please pray for us bishops, priests and others who, to share the faith, blog , use Twitter and Facebook--that we may be motivated by Christ's values alone.

On this day each year, the Pope releases a message for World Communications Sunday (that of the Ascension or the Seventh Sunday of Easter, this year May 20, 2012). 

This year's theme is
Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization:
Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves. By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible. It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other. Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence – indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression.

Silence, then, gives rise to even more active communication, requiring sensitivity and a capacity to listen that often makes manifest the true measure and nature of the relationships involved. When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary. Deeper reflection helps us to discover the links between events that at first sight seem unconnected, to make evaluations, to analyze messages; this makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge. For this to happen, it is necessary to develop an appropriate environment, a kind of ‘eco-system’ that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds.


The process of communication nowadays is largely fuelled by questions in search of answers. Search engines and social networks have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. In our time, the internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers – indeed, people today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they have never asked and to needs of which they were unaware. If we are to recognize and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of the surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive.

Amid the complexity and diversity of the world of communications, however, many people find themselves confronted with the ultimate questions of human existence: Who am I? What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? It is important to affirm those who ask these questions, and to open up the possibility of a profound dialogue, by means of words and interchange, but also through the call to silent reflection, something that is often more eloquent than a hasty answer and permits seekers to reach into the depths of their being and open themselves to the path towards knowledge that God has inscribed in human hearts.





MEMORIAL – ST. FRANCIS DE SALES, BISHOP, DOCTOR

O God, who for the salvation of souls willed that the Bishop Saint Francis de Sales become all things to all, graciously grant that, following his example, we may always display the gentleness of your charity in the service of our neighbour. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

* * *
Saint François de Sales, Évêque de Genève (1567-1622)
Prêtre (1593), missionnaire dans le Chablais calviniste (1594-1597), il devient évêque coadjuteur (1599) puis titulaire (1602) de Genève, avec résidence à Annecy. Il applique à son diocèse les méthodes préconisées par le concile de Trente. En 1610, avec Jeanne de Chantal, il fonde l'ordre de la Visitation, à la fois contemplatif et actif. Il donne l'essentiel de sa direction spirituelle dans son Introduction à la vie dévote (1609). Sa spiritualité souriante mais exigeante, portée par un grand talent littéraire, se retrouve dans Traité de l'amour de Dieu (1616) et Entretiens spirituels (posthume). Canonisé en 1665, il a été déclaré docteur de l'Église en 1877. (www.larousse.fr)

* * * * * *
CONFIRMATIONS



Récemment, j’ai présidé quelques célébrations du sacrement de la Confirmation pour les jeunes de deux paroisses vers l’est d’Ottawa: presque une centaine dans chaque communauté.  
Voici quelques photos :    
Paroisse Saint Jacques (Embrun):














* * * * * *

Paroisse Très-sainte Trinité (Rockland)

Several of our Ottawa parishes are caught up in the celebration of the Lunar [“Chinese”] New Year. The photos are taken from my visit to the celebration in the parish hall of  Sheng Shen (Holy Spirit) Chinese Catholic Parish yesterday (New Year’s Eve). Further pictures of the Mass and of the exchange of greetings with leaders from Our Lady of LaVang Vietnamese Parish on Friday will be uploaded later in the week.

AsiaNews.it is a Catholic website that focuses on the Church in Asia. The following is drawn from their informative item on the Lunar New Year:

Today, January 23, the Far East is celebrating the start of the Year of the Dragon. Along with China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Chinese communities all around the world, from New York to Toronto, from Melbourne to Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia will celebrate.

The Dragon is the luckiest sign in the Chinese zodiac because it is the only mythological animal of the 12 signs (the others are all earthly animals: rooster, snake, rabbit, etc ...). This makes it a powerful celestial sign, which brings wealth, virtue, harmony and longevity. It is not by chance that the dragon has always been the symbol of the Emperor and the Chinese are known as "the sons of the dragon."

Chinese astrologers and their predictions have been fighting for some time against the Mayan predictions, which for 2012 foresee - no one knows how - the end of the world. For Eastern futurists, however, this year will fix the troubles of the past years in the spheres of economics and love.

2012 is a year of the "water" Dragon (the influence of one of the 5 original elements). The last such year was 1952. That, and the promise of happiness and wealth was enough to stir in much of the Chinese world to "rush" to have a child in the year of the Dragon! In China, experts are already predicting a 5% increase in births - even with the heavy limitations of the one-child law - and a 27% growth in sales of diapers!

We may ask, will the Year of the Dragon usher in democratic change in China? Maybe not. One thing is certain: this year will see civil society struggle even more in China to defend their rights against the excessive power of the economic and political oligarchy and that the Party will continue its policy of arrests of dissidents, lawyers, bishops and religious figures to avoid any "Arab Spring" made-in-China.

Finally, the Christians. The previous year of the Dragon was the Jubilee of 2000, which marked a revival of religion and faith in the world and in China. Nausea of materialism and the witness of Christians has produced much fruit, even if the government is trying in every possible way to divide the churches and communities.

Despite what many think, the Dragon is on the Christians side. It is true that in the Apocalypse the dragon tries to devour the child of the Woman (Revelation 12: 1-10), but the Chinese dragon is the not dragon of the West. In China, the dragon is one of the sources of the universe’s energy and the swift messenger of the Lord of Heaven.

“Translated” into Western culture, a dragon would be closer to a guardian angel or an archangel, and therefore, the Chinese dragon works for the children of the dragon, but also for the Church!

















Photo credit: Mr. Lau (above)

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Almighty ever-living God, direct our actions according to your good pleasure, that in the name of your beloved Son we may abound in good works. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.


* * * * * *FATHER BILL ADDLEY, S.J.
October 16, 1943 - January 21, 2012
R.I.P.


Yesterday morning, I received the sad news that Father William Addley had died in St. Michael's Hospital after surgery for abdominal cancer that had been diagnosed shortly after Christmas.  He was just about to complete this summer a 13-year stint as Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in downtown Toronto.
"Father Bill" as he was universally known had been assistant to the the Jesuit Provincial, then from 1984-1990 Provincial of the Jesuits in English Canada Province (at that time known as the Upper Canada Jesuit Province).  He was very much appreciated by so many of his Jesuit confreres for whom he showed great esteem and support, often in hidden ways and preferably with himself out of the limelight.
A proud Haligonian, he probably knew that it would take some adjusting on my part--as someone who had "come from away"--when I went to the Atlantic School of Theology in his home town to teach in 1975.  So, he called me on the telephone from time to time, to ask how I was doing and to give me news of the brethren in Toronto and elsewhere across Canada, to ask advice and to offer some in my role as an interviewer for aspiring candidates to the Society. 
We became friends through those calls and later when I had moved to Toronto as we went looking for housing for the Regis College Jesuits in the area around the University of Toronto. His sudden departure from our midst is hard to fathom: How mysterious God's judgments; how inscrutable his ways.
May the Lord grant this servant of his a merciful judgment and lead him to the waters of eternal life in God's Kingdom that he strove to serve.  He will be missed. 
Rest in peace, my brother Bill.

* * * * * *

A WARM WELCOME ON A STORMY NIGHT

Last Tuesday evening was a messy one for getting around Ottawa with several centimeters of snow being covered with freezing rain.  However, the sand was placed on the steps of Valrideau and the welcome mat was out for me to visit this residence, under the direction of Opus Dei, which houses mainly university students but also some professional women.

The house is spacious and well-organized around a beautiful chapel and dining and meeting rooms that welcome women who wish to grow in their understanding and practice of the faith.

Over freshly baked desserts, juices, teas and coffees, I enjoyed a wonderful exchange with the residents, learning about their study and work programs, interests and spirituality.

MEMORIAL – ST. AGNES, VIRGIN, MARTYR
Almighty ever-living God, who choose what is weak in the world to confound the strong, mercifully grant that we, who celebrate the heavenly birthday of your Martyr Saint Agnes, may follow her constancy in the faith. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

* * *


Pope says virginity and martyrdom
of St. Agnes example of faith



Pope Benedict XVI held up the life of a young virgin and martyr as an example to seminarians of the total commitment to Christ required by young men seeking to enter the priesthood.
The pope also said that a solid cultural background and intellectual understanding of faith was essential in the formation of priests as spreaders of the word of God. The pope spoke in an audience yesterday with students from one of Rome's oldest and most prominent seminaries, the Almo Collegio Capranica.
Benedict told them that while martyrdom marks a final and heroic act, the “informed, free and mature” choice of virginity is rather the “fruit of a long friendship with Jesus” developed through close knowledge of his words and constant prayer.
Legend says St. Agnes died in 304 or 305 at the hands of the suitor she spurned so she could remain faithful only to Christ. Pope Benedict said the saint faced her fate with exemplary courage. Her martyrdom illustrates “the beauty of belonging to Christ without hesitation.”
The path to the priesthood requires a similar level of commitment, the pope said, as well as integrity, well-roundedness, ascetic exercise and “heroic faith.”
The Holy Father reminded the seminary students that “faith has its own rational and intellectual dimension, which is essential to it,” and that it is the student's responsibility to assimilate the “Christian synthesis of faith and reason.” (Catholic News Service)
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 THE CONSECRATION
OF ST. ISIDORE CHURCH,
SOUTH MARCH./KANATA NORTH
 

CainCo Photography, Kanata 
Last Saturday, I joined the parishioners of St. Isidore Church for the dedication of the third church on this site.  The church is bright and airy and it is clear that the latest embodiment is striking and is able to meet the growing needs of the congregation for the forseeable future.   The statue of St. Isidore has been carried over from the previous church, opened in 1887, some 125 years ago; the statue rests on a pedestal composed of stones from the previous building.  Also, the stained glass windows have been refurbished and a striking brightness to the community's worship.  There is a large atrium at the entry to the church and a covered indoor walk-way to the parish hall.   The homily for the occasion follows, with a photo display:  
 
The Consecration of St. Isidore Church—South March, ON

Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year “B”)-January 14, 2012


CALLED BY GOD TO BE HIS DWELLING
[1 Samuel 3.3b-10, 19, [Psalm 40]; 1 Corinthians 6.13c-15a, 17–20; John 1.35–42]


At the start of the ceremony the key to the building was handed over to me (CainCo Photo).


God delights to dwell with you (cf. Proverbs 8:31). He loves you so much, He sent His son to die in your place, because you—and I—merit death due to sin. Instead, He offers you eternal life. He has given you the Bible. He has given you the saints. He has given you brothers and sisters—the Church—to walk with you. And, He has given you this new church building to worship in. This is cause for celebration! We can rightfully cry, “Hallelujah!”


The Fourth Gospel begins Jesus’ ministry, by having Him invite a group of ordinary men to spend time with him. He asks them to “come and see” where he “abides,” where he lives.


John’s gospel shows Jesus engaging His disciples, as He engages you and me today. He asks questions to reveal himself, to reveal themselves and to reveal ourselves.


Jesus revealed to Peter, “You will be called Cephas,” the Rock on which he will found a community called the Church (John 1.42).
We discover that Jesus resides primarily in the bosom of the Father. No temple or church building can contain all that is God. Still, Jesus is present in you and me, the body of Christ, the capital C-Church: You, and you, and you, are his public witness. Your generosity, your gentleness, your pure heart, and every other virtue God has given to you, attracts others to Christ. It is now your turn to say, “Come and see!”


The early Christians met secretly in house churches because soldiers would immediately destroy public churches and martyr the worshippers. Fortunately for us in the Western world, the emperor Constantine lifted the persecution of Christians in the year 313—almost 1,700 years ago—and allowed the practice of the faith and the construction of religious buildings.


The first St. Isidore church was a round structure built in South March by mainly Irish settlers in the 1830s. The second church was built 125 years ago in 1887, the forerunner to the church we dedicate today.


Like you, a lower case c-church building is a public witness to Christian faith. The architecture, the sacred art, and the sacraments celebrated here, all declare that Jesus is Lord. Every day for generations to come, this beautiful church will beckon to passers-by “Come and see!”


In today’s reading from the First Book of Samuel, we read that Israel was in a sad state. The disobedience and immorality of the two sons of the temple priest Eli reflected the corruption of the country. Eli was a permissive father and his eyes were growing dim, but his priestly anointing allowed him to discern that God was calling Samuel, a boy consecrated to serve in the temple.


“When God calls again, Eli told Samuel, say to Him, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening’.” This Samuel did. He became a famous “seer” among God’s people, showing them the right path. God did not allow any of Samuel’s words to fall to the ground, fruitless.
 Isn’t that what is most important for your faith life celebrated in this new church? That constantly, you open yourself to God’s will, saying “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening!” in response to God’s Word proclaimed here.




 This Sunday’s readings fit this church’s consecration. They involve a place of divine encounter—God’s Temple—as well as a divine call. Samuel and the disciples were called to service. Similarly, Paul invites us to “glorify God in your body” because, he tells us, “you are God’s temple.”

 Like Eli’s Israel, the Corinthian Church was in moral trouble. They saw themselves as enlightened Christians. They were smug about sinful practices. St. Paul patiently set them straight, by showing them that they cannot honour Christ by dishonouring their bodies.
 The Corinthians misunderstood healthy sexuality. They called evil good, like the incest of marrying one’s stepmother (1 Cor 5.1–13) and frequenting prostitutes (1 Cor 6.15). Paul corrects that error in today’s epistle reading.
The Corinthian problem is the distortion of the freedom that Christ had won for them. They justified taking licence by mouthing slogans (“Everything is permitted me,” twice in verse 12). Paul replied that this mock freedom can enslave (“but I will not let myself be dominated by anything”—1Cor6:12).
Former pastors were in attendance, including Msgr. Robert Martineau
 Paul knew that this world will end, not in death, but in resurrection (“God who raised up the Lord, will also raise us up through his power”). Paul showed that those who are united with Christ in baptism become members of his Body. As Christ’s Body, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. We have been bought at great cost: the death of Jesus Christ out of love for us! Therefore, our mission is to glorify God in our body, with the kind of behaviour befitting this noble status.




Dear friends, what you will celebrate here each Sunday in word and sacrament is the eternal life Jesus won for you by His sacrificial death on the cross. He is “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”



 In the Fourth Gospel—often called the “Spiritual Gospel”—Jesus helps you find your deepest longings for God, in your heart of hearts, by asking you “What are you looking for?”

What are you looking for? Happiness? Fulfilment? The meaning of life? Your creator? Eternal life? Jesus says, “Come and see.”



Through the intercession of the saints, particularly Our Blessed Mother and your patron St. Isidore, may this always be true, in this lovely new church. Here, your faith is called to a most profound activity. May you always hear God’s Word in this sacred place and see the Father through Jesus, our Eucharistic Lord in this his dwelling-place. Amen.
 

Today's two saints are optional memorials on the same day but they are treated separately--either a commemoration of one or of the other.  However, a number of icons depict them together because both may be venerated on January 20:



SAINT FABIAN, POPE AND MARTYR


O God, glory of your Priests, grant, we pray, that, helped by the intercession of your Martyr Saint Fabian, we may make progress by communion in the faith and by worthy service. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

* * * * * *
SAINT SEBASTIAN, MARTYR


Grant us, we pray, O Lord, a spirit of fortitude, so that, taught by the glorious example of your Martyr Saint Sebastian, we may learn to obey you rather than men. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

* * * * * *

Third Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year "B") - January 22, 2012
TWO GALILEAN PROPHETS: JONAH AND JESUS

[Jonah 3.1-5, 10 [Psalm 25]; 1 Corinthians 7.29-31; Mark 1.14-20]







In Second Kings 14:25, mention is made of an eighth-century servant of God called Jonah, son of Amittai.  He was from Gath-hepher, a village of Zebulun in Galilee located not far from Jesus' hometown of Nazareth.  In the time of Jeroboam II (785-745 B.C.), this Jonah prophesied Israel's expansion.


Jonah son of Amittai is mentioned in the Book of Jonah (1.1), though the work's connection with the historical prophet may be tenuous at best.  Still, the message of the “minor prophet” Jonah is remarkable for its teaching about the prophet's role and purpose in communicating God's summons to repentance.


When called by God to preach conversion to Nineveh, a people whose brutal actions had become a byword in Israel, Jonah fled, taking a ship bound for Tarshish.  However, God caused a storm to strike the ship.  Subsequently, the sailors cast Jonah into the sea, whereupon a great fish swallowed him.  After Jonah's prayer, God delivered him by causing the “whale” to vomit him onto dry land.


Then God reiterated the command that Jonah preach repentance to Nineveh--with spectacular results!  “The people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.”


What is striking is that the language of conversion gets applied to God: “God changed his mind about the calamity he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it”.


The parabolic book of Jonah closes with God inviting the prophet himself to have a change of heart.  For as soon as Nineveh repented, Jonah went into a deep funk.  He had known that God—being compassionate and merciful—would forgive Nineveh, if it repented.  And Jonah would have none of this (4.1-5).


God reproached Jonah for feeling sorry for a bush that gave him shade but was eaten by a worm (4.6-10), while being indifferent to God's concern for the 120,000 residents of Nineveh and their animals.  We leave Jonah struggling with a call to have a change of heart issued by the God who is concerned that none of His creation should perish (4.11).


Jesus contrasted the outcome of Jonah's preaching (conversion by the Ninevites) with the unwillingness of His contemporaries to heed His call to conversion (cf. Luke 11.32; Matthew 12.41).


Mark describes Jesus' preaching as issuing God's demand to the Galileans of His time to change their hearts because, through His preaching, God's Kingdom had arrived in their midst (“The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the Good News”).


Mark follows Jesus' call to conversion with peremptory commands to four individuals—Simon [Peter] and Andrew, James and John—to leave their occupation (fishing) and family (Zebedee) in order to fish with Jesus for people to inhabit God's Kingdom.



Jesus' invitation that his disciples have a change of outlook touches them negatively and positively.  Negatively, discipleship meant for them leaving their way of life and former ties.  Positively, it meant following Jesus.  Henceforth, they will not only accompany Jesus, but he will let them share his ministry and eventually continue it.


As the gospel proceeds, we will see these and other disciples called to “be with Him and to be sent out to proclaim the message”, even having authority to cast out demons as Jesus did (3.14-15).  Jesus' disciples will be invited to an ongoing rethinking of their outlook on life—to conversion.


The assertion that the Kingdom has “come near: in the preaching of Jesus conceals a tension between the present but hidden fulfilment of God's Kingdom in the ministry of Jesus and the Kingdom's future completion in power, the focus of Jesus' teaching in parables.  In Jesus' ministry the Kingdom of God entered into history, even though its full appearance is yet to come.


Paul's writings emphasize this ongoing tension between the “already” and “not yet” dimensions of God's Kingdom.  He claims that “the appointed time has grown short” and “the present form of this world is passing away”.


For disciples in every age, therefore, living Christian life is paradoxical (“those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions”).  It requires an utterly new mind-set, conversion.

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the death of Mgr Charles-Hugues Gauthier, Archbishop of Ottawa from 1910-1922.  Here is the treatment of his life in ministry from the Canadian Dictionary of Biography (online version); it is by Professor Mark G. McGowan, an Ottawa native:





GAUTHIER, CHARLES HUGH, Roman Catholic priest, professor, and archbishop; b. 13 Nov. 1843 in Alexandria, Upper Canada, son of Gabriel Gauthier, a farmer, and Mary McKinnon; d. 19 Jan. 1922 in Ottawa.
Of French Canadian and Scottish parentage, Charles Gauthier received his early education from the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Alexandria. Later he attended Regiopolis College in Kingston, from which he graduated with high honours in 1863; he subsequently studied theology at the Grand Séminaire in Montreal. On 24 Aug. 1867, at St John the Baptist Church in Perth, Ont., he was ordained by Bishop Edward John Horan* of Kingston. He served as professor of rhetoric and director of Regiopolis College until 1869, when Horan made him pastor of St John the Evangelist parish in Gananoque, a charge that included missions at Howe Island, Lansdowne, Jones Falls, and Brewers Mills. In 1875 he was transferred to Westport and then, upon the accession of Bishop John O'Brien, to St Mary's parish in Williamstown. He spent 11 years there, during which time he opened a new parish at nearby Glen Nevis (which he also administered), constructed a new rectory in Williamstown, built mission churches in Lancaster (1885) and Martintown (1886), and liquidated the debt of St Mary's. Moved to Brockville in 1886, he acted as regional dean and, after 1891, as vicar general for the archdiocese of Kingston. His fluency in English, French, and Gaelic enabled him to communicate with its principal linguistic groups.

Gauthier's pastoral skills, good humour, and financial acumen were acknowledged by his fellow priests when, in an unprecedented step, 37 of them met and selected him as their choice to succeed Archbishop James Vincent Cleary*, who had died in February 1898. Kingston's clergy were fearful that the Vatican might appoint the bishop of Waterford and Lismore, in Ireland, to succeed the Irish-born Cleary, instead of a Canadian who understood the diocese and its needs. Their petition may have influenced the Canadian bishops' recommendation to Pope Leo XIII, who named Gauthier archbishop on 29 July. He was consecrated in Kingston on 18 October.

Like the priests who supported him, many Kingstonians regarded Gauthier as moderate in both politics and temperament - a striking contrast to his predecessor. "The choice of Msgr. Gauthier has been hailed throughout the country, as a special grace of divine Providence," exclaimed Archbishop Joseph-Thomas Duhamel* of Ottawa. "For me, I consider it a gift of God." The new archbishop continued the energetic pace he had set as a parish priest. Within his diocesan boundaries, which extended west from Dundas County to just beyond the Trent River and from Lake Ontario to Algonquin Park, he administered 41,384 Catholics, who constituted 16 per cent of the diocese's entire population. His frequent travels throughout the diocese and familiarity with its growing towns and villages made it easier for him to approve the construction of new churches and rectories, and renovations of ageing ones, in such centres as Odessa (1898), Ormsby and South Mountain (1899), Lombardy (1900), Frankford (1901), Lansdowne (1901), Merrickville (1902), Lanark (1903), Marmora (1904), Toledo (1907), and Enterprise (1908). His episcopate was also marked by the construction of St Francis' Hospital in Smiths Falls, St John's Convent in Perth, and St Mary's of the Lake Orphanage in Kingston, and renovations to Kingston's Hôtel Dieu hospital.

Gauthier's Kingston years were devoid of the sectarian tension that had earned the city the nickname the Derry of Canada [see John Gaskin*]. His own actions won him respect among its Protestants. When St George's Cathedral was gutted by fire in 1899, for example, he was one of the first to offer sympathy and financial aid to Anglican archbishop John Travers Lewis*. Although he contributed to the atmosphere of toleration and commented on the absence of Protestant proselytizing in his diocese, he still worried that local Catholicism was being endangered by mixed marriages, increased socializing with Protestants, and Catholic attendance at public schools. For Gauthier, the establishment of Catholic schools "wherever possible" was the surest way to strengthen the Catholic minority in a largely Protestant province. In 1901, 4,000 out of 6,000 Catholic children of school age were enrolled in the diocese's separate schools; the remaining 2,000, according to Gauthier, lived in areas with no access to Catholic schools. By the end of his tenure new ones had been created in Belleville, Tweed, and Chesterville.

His interest in separate schools extended beyond his diocese. He quickly became a respected leader among the bishops on the issues of teachers' qualifications, textbooks, and school-tax reform. In 1904 justice Hugh MacMahon ruled that members of Catholic religious orders who were employed as teachers in Ontario must obtain qualifications commensurate with provincial standards. Archbishops Gauthier, Duhamel, and Denis O’Connor* of Toronto, however, were alarmed that many sisters and brothers might leave their teaching posts rather than attend classes in the "Protestant" atmosphere of the provincial normal schools. Believing that the members of orders were already well qualified, through teachers' conventions and experience, Gauthier and his colleagues appealed MacMahon's decision to the Supreme Court of Canada and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, but without success. When John Seath*, Ontario's superintendent of education, produced legislation early in 1907 that required the proper certification of teaching sisters and brothers, Gauthier opposed the plan, fearing the closure of at least four convents in his diocese and the demise of Catholic schools that employed religious. Declaring the bill "odious and unjust," he appealed directly to Premier James Pliny Whitney* to allow the teachers to be certified without further qualification. With the passage of the act on 20 April 1907, Gauthier and his colleagues conceded defeat and began working to ensure that the teaching members adapted to the three levels of certification.

Gauthier coordinated efforts by the Ontario bishops to secure better funding for Catholic schools from the government and also to obtain improvements to Copp, Clark's Canadian Catholic readers series. By 1909 he and his long-time friend Archbishop Fergus Patrick McEvay* of Toronto were the instigators and chief negotiators of a quiet diplomacy to procure for the separate schools a larger share of business and corporation taxes and to have public funding extended to the senior grades of Catholic high schools. At one point in the negotiations, in order to win the desired financial concessions, Gauthier and the bishops were prepared to sacrifice their Copp, Clark Catholic textbooks, which would have been very expensive to revise. Doubts about the wisdom of this course of action arose, however. Gauthier asked Whitney to offer Catholic schools more of the taxes in exchange for which the bishops, after removing the "objectionable features," would allow public school readers to be used as supplementary texts in Catholic schools. Negotiations continued but in 1910 the bishops' hopes were dashed when the government shelved plans for Catholic school reforms because of vociferous demands by Franco-Ontarians for the extension of French-language education. Whitney feared that any concessions to the bishops in the midst of these demands would alienate the Orange faction of his government.

The Kingston archbishop's influence in ecclesiastical politics was complemented by the attention shown him by the apostolic delegate to Canada, Monsignor Donato Sbarretti y Tazza. Their close relationship - Sbarretti sought Gauthier's advice and assistance on several occasions - was fortunate for the English-speaking bishops as they moved to exert their influence over the church west of the Ottawa River. Gauthier was known to be vehemently opposed to French Canadian clerical nationalists and, as Bishop Thomas Joseph DOWLING reported Gauthier's position to Rome, their "impertinent interference with the affairs of English speaking provinces." As an integral part of their struggle for control, Gauthier and other English-speaking bishops attempted to secure their own candidate each time a see became vacant. In partnership with McEvay and Archbishop Edward Joseph McCarthy of Halifax, in 1909 Gauthier acquired the services of Father Henry Joseph O’Leary* as the anglophone bishops' agent at the Vatican. With O'Leary's aid and Sbarretti's confidence, Gauthier and his group were successful in several appointments, including that of Michael Francis Fallon* as bishop of London in 1909. Long admired by Gauthier, this controversial cleric was loathed by Franco-Ontarians, particularly in Essex County, for his opposition to bilingual schools.

The "bishop maker" became a victim of his own success. In August 1910 the Vatican named him archbishop of Ottawa, a position left vacant since the death of Duhamel in June 1909. This appointment came in spite of the fact that Gauthier's name did not appear among the original terna (list of candidates) for Ottawa and that Gauthier himself had recommended the "broadminded" Bishop Joseph-Médard EMARD for the difficult task of administering this explosive archdiocese. Out of 266 priests and brothers there, only 30 were not of French origin. Moreover, for much of the decade, French- and English-speaking Catholics in Ottawa had been bitterly divided over who would control the bilingual University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Separate School Board. Infighting among the board's trustees over teachers' qualifications and spending had prompted the court case that had led to the provincial law on certification. By 1910 demands for the improvement of bilingual schools, spearheaded by the Congrès d'Éducation des Canadiens Français de l'Ontario [see Napoléon-Antoine Belcourt*], had further polarized the church along linguistic lines in eastern Ontario. In Ottawa, Protestants stood on the sidelines and watched with interest as the various Catholic factions waged war in school-council chambers, in the press, and from the pulpits.

Gauthier's colleagues knew full well the trouble that faced him. His fellow bishops in Ontario passed a motion of "confidence and good will" as he embarked on the most difficult task of his career. Bishop Paul LA ROCQUE of Sherbrooke, Que., offered his "condolences" in English. In a similar vein, Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier* expressed his concern about the "overwhelming" burden placed on his good friend, and his regret that some Catholics had been critical of the Vatican's decision. Francophone Catholics in the archdiocese were distressed by the appointment of Gauthier, whom they considered an anglophone with a French surname. This reaction had been anticipated by Sbarretti, who had received the papal bulls authorizing the appointment in August 1910 but, to avoid too much attention to a controversial selection, withheld the news until after the International Eucharistic Congress in Montreal in September. In speculating about the appointment in Le Devoir on 19 July, Henri Bourassa* had neatly summarized the opinion of French Canadian nationalists when he asserted that Gauthier was "French in name, English in language and education," of advanced age, and appointed only to secure "the definitive nomination of an English-speaking bishop." Contrary to Fergus McEvay's prediction in November that "the crazy opposition" would dissipate, the anger did not subside. When Gauthier was installed at Notre-Dame Basilica on 21 Feb. 1911, both the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and the Association Canadienne-Française d'Éducation d'Ontario refused to attend.

The bilingual schools question would dog Gauthier for the rest of his life. In 1912, following the Department of Education's issue of Regulation 17, which prohibited French-language education after the first form, Gauthier was faced with virtual civil war within the Ottawa Separate School Board. Despite his opposition to the francophone demands of 1910, Gauthier took a more moderate position on bilingual schools in the hope that he might reconcile the factions. In 1912 he appealed to Whitney to allow "a larger measure of French to be taught" in bilingual schools attended exclusively by French Canadian children. The premier refused on the grounds that such a measure would create a "third" school system in Ontario.

By 1914 the situation at the school board had deteriorated. French trustees defied Regulation 17 and, as a result, English-speaking trustees sought an injunction to prohibit the francophones from raising debentures for independent schools and paying salaries to unqualified teachers. In June 1915, after an acrimonious election and bitter confrontations between local priests, the board shut its schools. In September they were reopened by order of the Ontario Supreme Court, and the new premier, William Howard Hearst*, appointed a three-person commission to run the board and ensure its adherence to the provincial regulation. English-speaking clergy and laity lined up in support of the commission, while their French-speaking co-religionists condemned it and francophone bishops appealed to Pope Benedict XV to defend French-language education rights. In 1916 the pope responded with an encyclical, Commisso divinitus, which instructed Gauthier's flock to settle their differences peacefully and not imperil their schools. Neither this intervention nor the mediatory efforts of archbishops Paul Bruchési* of Montreal and Neil McNeil* of Toronto ended the crisis. Later that year, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council upheld Regulation 17 but ruled the Ottawa School Commission illegal, and attempts were made to reconstitute the original board.

During the crisis Gauthier had become increasingly estranged from the francophone Catholics of his diocese. He was notably absent from the biannual congresses of the ACFEO, despite the presence of other bishops, and his francophone priests expressed their disgust at his inability to rein in actions of the English-speaking Catholics. Gauthier tried to maintain a middle course. He instructed his clergy in unequivocal terms to desist from any public discussion of these "vexed questions." In 1917, in the wake of the papal encyclical and the validation of Regulation 17 by the courts, Gauthier and the Ontario bishops issued a joint pastoral urging Catholics to "obey all the just laws and regulations enacted from time to time by civil authorities" and English-speaking Catholics in particular to consider "sympathetically" the "aspirations and requests" of French Canadian Catholics. The bishops acknowledged the ambiguities of Regulation 17 but endorsed its legality, and echoed the pope by asking that Catholics facilitate "an equitable teaching of the French language together with a thorough acquisition of English." Despite these pleas, the tension in the Ottawa board continued, and local priests continued to complain about the tactics of "the other side."

Although weighed down and sometimes demoralized by the schools issue, Gauthier still managed to conduct his day-to-day administrative affairs in efficient fashion, as he had done in Kingston. He continued to monitor the interactions of Catholics and Protestants, noting the increased numbers of mixed marriages, especially in English-speaking parishes. As the Catholic population of his diocese expanded on both sides of the Ottawa River, he approved the construction of church buildings and erected new parishes, including Saint-Bernardin (1912), Ottawa's Blessed Sacrament (1913) and Saint-Gérard-Majella (1916), Vars (1915), and, in Quebec, Boileau (1915), Fieldville (1915), and Hull's Saint-Joseph (1913) and Notre-Dame-de-Lorette (1916). He also presided over the creation of the diocese of Mont-Laurier in 1913 out of the eastern section of his territory in Quebec and the reorganization of his suffragan dioceses northwest of Ottawa. In 1915 the vicariate of Timiskaming became the diocese of Haileybury and four years later the prefecture of Northern Ontario was carved out of its northwestern section. In addition, he supported special collections for the erection of a diocesan seminary (a project unrealized in his lifetime) and for home missions to Ukrainian Catholic immigrants.

The pressures of episcopal administration and the linguistic crisis took their toll on Gauthier. After 1918 his health declined and his appearances became less frequent. In 1921 he issued his last significant public statement, a lengthy pastoral on the needs of separate schools in Ontario. As he had earlier in his career, he made an eloquent plea to Catholics to continue the fight for a just share of the tax assessment and for the funding of senior grades in high schools. He had never surrendered his hope that funding equity, as promised in the Separate School Act of 1863 [see Sir Richard William Scott*], could be achieved through concerted effort. He would not witness the attainment of full funding.

Shortly before Christmas 1921 Gauthier was rushed to the Ottawa General Hospital, where he died of uraemia at 2:35 A.M. on 19 Jan. 1922. He was buried in Notre-Dame Basilica. His funeral was attended by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King*, members of his cabinet, numerous bishops, over 500 clergy and religious, a legion of lay leaders, and his brother and two sisters. In eulogies, former adversaries in the bilingual schools controversy now acknowledged him as a "true friend of the separate schools," while non-Catholics paid tribute to him as a loyal citizen who had stirred up "the patriotic spirit of his parishioners" during the Great War. Given the challenges of his life and his enormous pastoral contribution, the most fitting tribute came from the Ottawa Citizen, which remarked that he had lived up to his motto, In fide et lenitate. Charles Hugh Gauthier had indeed been strong in faith and gentle in administration.

* * * * * *
Visite du Reliquaire du Saint Frère André





Dimanche dernier, je suis allé presider la messe principale à la communauté Saint-Frère-André à l’Église Bienheureuse Vierge Marie, Médiatrice de toutes les grâces a l’occasion de l’accueil du reliquaire du saint patron dans les églises environnantes.

Après la messe, quelques prêtres et moi avons célébré le sacrement de l’Onction des malades pour une trentaine de personnes.

Quelques photos :